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2018 Band Concert

With the news that the outcome of this year’s Band in Concert had been entrusted to myself, Princess Chappell and Ekow Bentsi-Enchill filled me with sheer excitement for what the months to follow had in store for me.

I saw this privilege as an opportunity to immerse myself in music, which is so dear to me.

As the months wore on, I began to forget why I had accepted the responsibility with such glee. There were so many moving parts to keep a pulse on, I truly felt like I was juggling countless glass plates.

I was learning and teaching backup vocals for all the songs that required them. Of course I also was tasked with leading time management techniques for school band members, and myself to successfully prioritize the concert for a short period before the 17th of February!

I was truly left scraping together just enough time to stay afloat and awake in my classes.

With the performance day looming ahead, rehearsals became more and more intense, but spirits remained high and we were all hoping for the best, but the beast of insecurity - true to itself - crept in at the last minute, when all we had left to do was wait for 7pm that Saturday evening.

Before I knew it, the time had come, and we were mounting the stage. We were greeted by the harsh floodlights that illuminated our blue outfits, and allowed for absolute scrutiny of our every move. To my amazement, once we started with “I Stand Amazed” by Sinach, performed by Maama Eduardo Benyi and Essi Kantamanto-Koomson, our nerves calmed to a peaceful rest, and the other songs flew by. In no time at all, the event was over.

Despite the fleeting nature of the event, I still remember the thrill of showcasing our hard work to friends and families. Although I must admit to glowing with pride after every congratulatory wish we received, not a single one of them could match up to the feeling of accomplishment that filled me after our final song - Osibisa’s “Coffee Song” performed by Nii Addo Quaynor. At that moment, I was confident that we had done our best.

Interestingly, as I sang my father’s calm voice incessantly reminded me, “Lift up your chin, just a slight tilt can make a difference.” And I believe it did. Today, with the stage disassembled and my new blue dress crumpled somewhere in my laundry basket, I am glad to say I have emerged from this experience with my chin infinitesimally- yet significantly - higher than it was in October. I am thankful for the stress because it made me more resilient, for the setbacks because they helped me hone my problem-solving skills, and for my support system (God, co-Band heads friends and parents) for helping me hold my chin up in the face of it all.

by: Baaba Bentsi-Enchill

Humanities Day 2018

We often speak of how underdeveloped African countries: they fail to provide basic amenities such as proper sanitation and access to education to all citizens. We grumble bitterly about our corrupt politicians and the inefficiency of our governments at raising the living standards of citizens and freeing the country of accumulated debt. We lament about how we are in the 21st century and we are still battling energy issues, (#dumsor) while the rest of the world leaps and bounds ahead of us.

What breaks my heart isn’t the complaining, these are valid issues which need to be addressed and I for one, strongly believe that the time for playing the colonialism card as an excuse for not having developed, has long elapsed. Take Ghana for example, we have enjoyed over half a century of independence and all we have to show for it is the ever increasing wealth disparity.

After we have exhausted our eternal lists of reasons why Africa will never succeed, we quickly follow it up with “Anyways it’s not my problem, I’m going to study Engineering in the states then I’ll get my Master’s degree in the UK and after that and perhaps settle down in Switzerland, I hear the scenery is to die for.” We clamour to leave our countries seeking greener pastures, instead of staying behind to fix the problems we have here.

Forgetting to add ourselves to the unending list of reasons Africa remains underdeveloped, we argue that Africa continues to need good passionate leaders. Yet we quickly abandon Africa to her own fate after acquiring the very attributes our continent needs in competent leaders in school. Through the student leadership opportunities presented at our educational institutions, we hone these invaluable skills then fail to give back to our motherland. For example, in Consortium Club you pick up strategic thinking, in Pan-African and Interact Clubs, you learn to inspire people and get them to believe in your vision, as monitors and prefects you begin to grasp the challenges of peer leading and liaising up a hierarchy.

Therefore today, I challenge all of us to reflect carefully on what our curriculum seeks to achieve. It is easy to jump on a bus, go to a deprived community, teach the kids and come back to the hostel to attend to our numerous assignments. The bigger question, however, remains unanswered. What impact did we have on those communities? Have we improved those communities? Have we given those communities, the necessary tools to enable them escape the vicious cycle of poverty? Are those communities better off because of their interaction with us, or they are left waiting till the next time we come, ready to provide more solutions?

What I am suggesting here is that, our curriculum is deeply etched in the philosophy of the school, knowledge in the service of Africa. I am imploring all of us to take ownership of our experiences here in the school. After all, we have the skills, the knowledge, and the opportunities to transform our continent. We can no longer wait for a benevolent benefactor to come save us from ourselves. We have the knowledge, now to start serving those around us.

by Claudette Wilson

2017 Inter-Hostel Athletics Competition

This year's inter hotel athletics competition was riveting to the hilt.

HGIC students invested heaps of time putting in twice as much effort as last year, into mastering their crafts; ultimately making us all proud. Our school certainly has many star athletes to boast of! Athletics usually takes place every December, in the final week of school and it spans across two days. Day one is dedicated to field events including triple jump, shot put and high jump at the hostels. The second day’s events, all the track events, take place at El-Wak stadium in Accra. We conclude with a brief award ceremony acknowledging all the top performers, and call it a day.

Christmas Concert 2017

During the festive season, the annual SOS HGIC Christmas Concert was held at the college on Saturday the 9th of December, 2017, SOS-HGIC held their annual Christmas concert at the college and it was an event to behold. The various electrifying and interesting performances put on by the students truly amused the audience of parents, staff, students, alumni and other members of the HGIC community.

This year’s performances were dotted with songs and carols to remind us of the reason for the season. Performances highlighted new talent, and old favorites who seem to make the stage their home, entertaining the audience with their myriad of musical prowess, and surpassing all expectations. A particularly memorable one was that of IB2 boys and girls who they gave their farewell performances to the school and families present.

Throughout the night’s entertaining and sometimes moving stage presences, the tuck shop, and the IB1 class enticed all in attendance with the sweet smells of fresh popcorn, and other delectable items that were on sale.

At the end of the night, many were full of good cheer, and gratitude for the successful end of the semester, and the official beginning of 2017 Christmas in Ghana.

We look forward to next year’s version of this endearing HGIC tradition.

By: Delasi Dake

RISE Competition

The 2017 RISE competition was a very daunting one, which apart from exponentially increasing our programming and development skills, had a great impact on our values of sportsmanship. This was especially true for our very own David Acquaah, as he was a completely new addition to the Probotics Club, with absolutely no previous experience in programming. He quickly the developed programming, and organizational skills which enabled him to provide important contributions towards our goal of winning the RISE competition.

There were naturally, easy and more challenging parts of this competition, the simple bit was the rush of excitement that came with starting the tasks themselves and the exhilarating feeling of accomplishment when we finally completed one. This however was greatly contended by the fact that our robot seemed to develop a mind of its own sometimes! This started to be the case significantly, the night before the actual competition, much to our horror!

However, during this sleepless night, as has been the case in other crises, members of the team bonded more than ever, for all had a common goal in mind: if we finish this before five in the morning maybe we can actually catch some zzz. All in all, it was worth it for a passion we all share: a passion for computers.